


From Tibet With Love

by starryvagabond



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 13:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3938698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryvagabond/pseuds/starryvagabond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Tibet With Love

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr drabble based on the prompt: "Clint making the decision not to kill Natasha". Unbeta'd. Enjoy.

The manila file folder was tossed across the tabletop toward Clint. “Your new target,“ Fury said simply, watching the assassin with an expectant eye as he opened the file to read it over. 

Inside the file was everything that Clint had come to expect from a SHIELD profile. Basic information, notes about actions that had been tracked thus far, and rather shoddy surveillance photos. 

"Natalia Romanova is her birth name but her parents were killed by the Mob. We recently found out she’s going by the name Natasha Romanoff,” Fury said while Clint scanned the file. “She’s been on our radar for a few years now and we’ve finally pinpointed her.“

Clint sighed. He had heard about the Black Widow before. She had been on the list of Most Wanted that SHIELD published every month. He had done a little looking for her himself whenever he was on a mission, but to no avail. 

"She needs to be eradicated, Barton. Failure is not an option.”

“Yes, sir.”

-

The jet took him to a small airport in Tibet. Usually, his missions were carried out much differently than this one… but to kill an assassin, you had to be more elusive. In a small pack on his back, he had everything he needed and headed out on foot.

First, a canvass around town. Clint’s Tibetan was less than perfect, but he found out what he wanted to know after about an hour of asking around. It seemed the Black Widow had been seen with a group of men heading out of town to the south.

Towards the damn Himalayas, of course.

_Failure is not an option. You’ve done crazier shit than this, Barton_.

“Guess I’m going mountain climbing…” he murmured.

-

The scene was one he wasn’t expecting to see. 

A group of men dressed to something akin to ninjas had turned on Natasha and had left her to die in a snowdrift. She was bleeding out, the white snow red around her. 

The snow was blowing around him as he stood over her and examined her for a moment. Fire red hair, emerald green eyes. Yeah, this was definitely his target.

Clint drew an arrow out of his quiver, aiming it directly at her heart. This was too easy. He was going to get a promotion for sure. 

But he froze, arrow still drawn, watching her glare up at him. Even though she was obviously half-dead, determination and dignity remained strong in her eyes.

“Сделайте это. Убейте меня*,” she snapped at him, her eyes locked with his. 

It would be so easy to do it. Just let the arrow fly.

But he couldn’t do it. 

Clint let the arrow go slack before putting it back neatly into his quiver before slinging the bow onto his back and helping the now cursing female up into his arms. But she was too weak to fight back, and by the time Clint had called for the jet to pick them up, she had fallen unconscious.

-

“I thought I told you failure wasn’t an option, Barton!” Fury snapped at him the moment he came out of the jet, the medical personnel carrying a pale as a sheet Natasha Romanoff into the medical facility.

Clint said nothing, tossing the file behind him as he walked back to his room. 

Inside were the words scrawled “Target has agreed to pledge her allegiance to the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division; effective immediately".

“God _dammit_ , Barton,” Fury mumbled.

**Author's Note:**

> *"Do it. Kill me."


End file.
